SpaceX puts ten Falcon 9 launches' worth of Starlink capacity on Starship's first orbital attempt
SpaceX's Starship Flight 14 will try to reach orbit for the first time carrying 26 Starlink V3 satellites that together add about 26 Tbps of capacity. For a company valued near $2 trillion, it tests how much one launch can lift, while the cost of each launch still depends on reuse.
The Investor · Invest desk
What happened
- The FAA told CNBC it issued the license for Flight 14's launch and reentry on September 26, clearing a flight targeted for Monday, September 28.
- Starship will fire its orbital insertion burn only if flight controllers confirm enough hardware redundancy to carry out the later deorbit burn.
- Ship 41 will refly two heat-shield tiles recovered from Ship 40, the first time Starship heat-shield tiles have been reused.
Why it matters
- What it limits constraint A clean flight still cannot establish Starship's cost per launch, because reuse on this mission covers two tiles and the booster is landing offshore.
- Who has to decide decision The redundancy rule puts the orbital call with flight controllers during the flight, so Flight 14 can meet its safety goals and still end suborbital.
- What it costs cost A lost ship would also cost 26 satellites built for Connectivity, SpaceX's only profitable segment as of the second quarter.
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Count and capacity come apart on this payload. Twenty-six satellites against a fleet of about 11,000 active ones is roughly a quarter of one percent by number [9][25]. SpaceX says the same 26 deliver about ten times what a Falcon 9 launch of V2 Mini satellites does [2]. Taken at the company's word, a Falcon 9 Starlink flight adds about 2.6 Tbps, and this one Starship is meant to add 26 [22]. Each V3 is designed for about 1 Tbps, with solar arrays that generate twice the power of earlier generations [1][16].
SpaceX went public in June in the largest IPO on record and is valued at about $2 trillion [11]. As of the second quarter, Connectivity was its largest segment and its only profitable one, and the company is counting on Starship to scale it [10]. Elon Musk said on the August earnings call: "It's not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world's internet, at least in countries where we're allowed to operate, which is the vast majority of countries." [26] Gwynne Shotwell, the chief operating officer, said this month that Starship will also launch "AI compute satellites" in 2027 [17].
The clean version of Monday has the ship firing its insertion burn about 25 minutes after liftoff, finishing deployment near the 1 hour 4 minute mark and using a single Raptor to deorbit almost nine hours in [6]. A messier version has the ship doing all of that while the booster repeats Flight 13, when 8 of 13 planned engines relit for the landing burn and it splashed down hard [18]. SpaceX has since changed engine filtering hardware and relight software [19]. In the least useful version, flight controllers cannot confirm enough redundancy for the deorbit burn, and SpaceX has said the insertion burn happens only after they do [5]. The mission description does not say whether the 26 satellites would still be released in that case [5].
I think even the clean version settles half of SpaceX's case. The company designed Starship to be fully reusable and to lift more cargo for less cost than any earlier spacecraft [12], and Flight 14 tests the cargo half. Reuse on this mission extends to two heat-shield tiles recovered from Ship 40 and flown again on Ship 41 [20]. The booster is aiming for an offshore landing point and the ship for the Pacific west of Chile, so neither returns to Starbase [13][4][15]. Three of the 26 satellites carry cameras to photograph the heat shield in orbit, and SpaceX will use the images to judge whether a ship is ready for missions that come back to the launch site [21].
The counter-case is that cost matters less than it looks. SpaceX already runs about 11,000 active satellites to roughly 650 for Eutelsat OneWeb [9], some 17 times as many [23], and a Starship that adds ten Falcon 9 flights' worth of capacity at a time widens that lead whatever each launch costs. I'd give that less weight. Five of the 13 landing-burn engines failed to relight on the last flight [24], and cheap, repeated lift is the design premise [12]. The satellites could still overturn this reading from the other side. If the V3s do not raise their orbits and start serving customers within the few weeks SpaceX expects [7], the limit on Starlink capacity is the satellite, and the rocket question comes second.
What to watch
- Whether flight controllers clear the orbital insertion burn at about 25 minutes 17 seconds after liftoff, and whether deployment finishes near the 1 hour 4 minute mark.
- Whether all 13 landing-burn engines relight on Super Heavy after the filtering and software changes made since Flight 13.
- Whether the V3 satellites raise their orbits and begin serving customers within the few weeks SpaceX expects, at close to 1 Tbps each.
Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.
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- [1]
SpaceX plans to deploy 26 Starlink V3 satellites on Flight 14, each designed to add about 1 Tbps of network capacity, for about 26 Tbps collectively.
- [2]
SpaceX said the 26 Tbps is approximately 10 times the capacity delivered by a single Falcon 9 launch carrying V2 Mini Starlink satellites.
- [3]
Flight 14 is the first Starship mission designed to reach orbit; previous Starship flight tests intentionally followed passively safe suborbital trajectories.
- [4]
The orbital mission is expected to fly at about 275 km, complete roughly six orbits, last nearly 10 hours, and end with splashdown in the Pacific Ocean west of Chile.
- [5]
SpaceX said Starship will only perform the orbital insertion burn after its flight-control team confirms sufficient hardware redundancy to safely execute the later deorbit maneuver.
- [6]
The planned timeline has the orbital insertion burn at about 25 minutes 17 seconds after liftoff, payload deployment beginning around 34 minutes and finishing at about 1 hour 4 minutes, and a deorbit burn with a single Raptor engine at nearly 8 hours 53 minutes.
- [7]
After deployment the V3 satellites are to unfold antennas and solar arrays, link to the constellation, and raise their orbits with onboard thrusters; SpaceX expects they could begin serving customers within a few weeks after launch.
- [8]
The FAA told CNBC it issued a license authorization for the Starship Super Heavy Flight 14 launch and reentry operations on September 26.
- [9]
SpaceX operates around 11,000 active satellites in orbit, compared with roughly 650 for competitor Eutelsat OneWeb.
- [10]
SpaceX is counting on Starship to scale its Starlink, or Connectivity, business, which was its largest and only profitable segment as of the second quarter.
- [11]
SpaceX went public in June in the largest IPO on record and is now valued at about $2 trillion.
- [12]
SpaceX designed the Starship Super Heavy rocket and booster to be fully reusable and to lift more cargo for less cost into orbit than any prior spacecraft.
- [13]
Super Heavy booster objectives include a landing burn at an offshore landing point.
- [14]
Flight 14 is targeted for as soon as Monday, September 28, with a 75-minute launch window opening at 7:15 a.m. CT.
- [15]
Flight 14 launches from the company town of Starbase, Texas.
- [16]
The V3 satellites are produced at a SpaceX facility in Redmond, Washington, and have solar arrays that generate twice as much power as prior generations.
- [17]
SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said at the All-In Summit that the company plans to use Starship to put "supercompute in space," launching "AI compute satellites" into orbit in 2027.
- [18]
On Flight 13, ice clogging affected the three center engines late in the boostback burn, and the booster attempted its landing burn with 8 of the planned 13 engines reigniting before a hard splashdown.
- [19]
SpaceX has introduced hardware changes to improve engine filtering and software modifications to increase engine relight reliability following Flight 13.
- [20]
SpaceX plans to refly two heat-shield tiles recovered from Ship 40 on Ship 41, the first reuse of Starship heat-shield tiles.
- [21]
Three of the satellites have been modified with cameras to observe Starship's heat shield in orbit; the imagery supports methods for judging whether the heat shield is ready for future missions that return Starship to its launch site.
- [22]
By SpaceX's comparison, a single Falcon 9 launch of V2 Mini satellites delivers about 2.6 Tbps of capacity, against 26 Tbps for this Starship payload.
- [23]
SpaceX's active satellite count is about 17 times Eutelsat OneWeb's.
- [24]
Five of the 13 planned landing-burn engines did not reignite on Flight 13.
- [25]
The 26 V3 satellites equal about 0.24% of SpaceX's roughly 11,000 active satellites by count.
- [26]
"It's not out of the question that at some point, Starlink will deliver a majority of the world's internet, at least in countries where we're allowed to operate, which is the vast majority of countries."
Sources
10 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.
- bloomberg.comSpaceX Starship Puts Upgraded Satellites in Orbit for First Time - Bloomberg
1 article · September 28, 2026
- cnbc.comSpaceX prepares to send Starship rocket to orbit for first time
1 article · September 27, 2026
- cryptopolitan.comSpaceX Starship reaches orbit, deploys 26 Starlinks in shortened Flight 14
1 article · September 28, 2026
- en.sedaily.comSpaceX Starship Reaches Orbit for First Time
1 article · September 29, 2026
- finance.yahoo.comSpaceX Starship test reaches Earth orbit, 26 Starlink satellites deployed
2 articles · September 28, 2026
- fortune.com‘We’re being extremely cautious here’: Starship reaches orbit for first time, but SpaceX cut its planned 10-hour trip after 3 hours
1 article · September 28, 2026
- foxbusiness.comSpaceX Starship launches on first orbital test flight with Starlink | Fox Business
1 article · September 28, 2026
- morningstar.comSpaceX sends its Starship rocket to orbit for the first time - but not without some hiccups | Morningstar
1 article · September 28, 2026
- nbcnews.comAssociated Press
1 article · September 28, 2026
- pulse2.comSpaceX Starship Flight 14 To Attempt First Orbital Mission And Deploy 26 Starlink V3 Satellites
1 article · September 28, 2026
- scmp.comSpaceX’s Starship rocket reaches orbit for first time
1 article · September 28, 2026
- semafor.comSpaceX’s Starship enters orbit, deploys satellites in landmark launch
1 article · September 28, 2026
Topics and entities
Topics
- Commercial space industry
- Reusable Launch Vehicles
- Satellite Broadband